Cameras and Orchids at Holland Village Market

The windmill at Holland V (that’s what we’ve been calling this area, since we were in school) is iconic. I wish that the whole area would be paved up and closed to traffic. Wouldn’t that be wonderful? Especially now that the MRT is so close by. More trees would be great too, as this is one of the hottest places in Singapore because of all the concrete and tarred roads. It was unbearably scorching at 34 degrees and the usual killer humidity, when I was there.

Oh wow, I totally missed this when we went to visit Singapore… I would’ve loved to see “our” windmill there!

We went inside another mall that had a cool camera shop… It had Lomo cameras and other “toy” cameras, I can’t remember where it was (though I wrote it down in my travel diary) but I remember it was pretty expensive there.

Oh hey, that’s where I had my fish head curry too! The Banana Leaf Apollo is mentioned in some travel articles I read, and of course in the Lonely Planet, and at the time I was there it was filled with a lot of other tourists. So I was afraid I would get a toned-down “fake” dish (and I was already skeptical about fish head curry, because it sounded like a gimmick dish), but it was very tasty indeed!

The fun thing about street art is that if you appreciate it, you develop an eye for it. I walked through the streets of Singapore, absorbing everything around me like any other traveler, but I also paid attention to lantern poles, backsides of traffic signs, etc. The fact that the penalties for graffiti/stickers in Singapore is so high made it all the more special if I came across something. It’s a sign that some people out there are willing to risk punishment in the name of personal expression. Most people are blind to those signs, or dismiss them as simple vandalism, but if you open your eyes for it you’ll find many layers of expression in it. I can’t imagine visiting another city without looking for/at street art. It’s a secret language that tells me so much more about a city than any tourist destination in it! But of course this is personal, and maybe someone else will disagree and find it nonsense, childish, devoid of any deeper meaning, and that is okay — it just adds to the diversity of how street art can be interpreted.

Thanks so much for taking the trouble to share your thoughts R64. I feel honored that you came by my blog all the way from Holland 🙂

I like how you put it…..the layers of expression and a form of secret language. I think Melbourne has a lot of street art and it makes the city so much more interesting. Saw this in a blog that was devoted to street art. Vetti: Live in Northcote